Information communication method for obtaining information specified by stripe pattern of bright lines

Abstract

An information communication method that enables communication between various devices includes: setting an exposure time of an image sensor; obtaining a bright line image including a bright line, by capturing a subject that changes in luminance by the image sensor with the set exposure time; setting a longer exposure time than the exposure time; obtaining a normal captured image by image capture by the image sensor with the longer exposure time; generating a synthetic image by specifying, in the normal captured image, a part that corresponds to the bright line included in the bright line image and superimposing a signal object on the normal captured image, the signal object being an image indicating the part; displaying the synthetic image; and obtaining information by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the bright line included in the obtained bright line image.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An information communication method for obtaining information from a subject, the information communication method comprising:
 setting an exposure time of an image sensor so that, in an image obtained by capturing the subject by the image sensor, a plurality of bright lines corresponding to a plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject; 
 obtaining a bright line image including the plurality of bright lines, by capturing the subject that changes in luminance by the image sensor with the set exposure time; 
 setting a longer exposure time than the exposure time; 
 obtaining a normal captured image by capturing the subject and surroundings of the subject by the image sensor with the longer exposure time; 
 generating a synthetic image by specifying, in the normal captured image, a part that corresponds to the plurality of bright lines included in the bright line image and superimposing a signal object on the normal captured image, the signal object being an image indicating the part; 
 displaying the synthetic image in which the subject and the surroundings of the subject are shown, in a form that enables identification of a spatial position of the part corresponding to the plurality of bright lines; and 
 obtaining the information by demodulating data specified by a stripe pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image. 
 
     
     
       2. The information communication method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein in the setting of the longer exposure time, the longer exposure time is set to less than or equal to 1/3000 second, and 
 in the obtaining of the normal captured image, an intermediate image in which the plurality of bright lines is shown together with the surroundings of the subject is obtained as the normal captured image. 
 
     
     
       3. The information communication method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image sensor includes a first image sensor and a second image sensor, 
 in the obtaining of the normal captured image, the normal captured image is obtained by image capture by the first image sensor, and 
 in the obtaining of a bright line image, the bright line image is obtained by image capture by the second image sensor simultaneously with the image capture by the first image sensor. 
 
     
     
       4. The information communication method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 presenting, in the case where the part corresponding to the plurality of bright lines is designated in the synthetic image by an operation by a user, presentation information based on the information obtained from the pattern of the bright line in the designated part. 
 
     
     
       5. The information communication method according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the operation by the user includes any of a tap; a swipe; an operation of continuously placing the user's fingertip on the part for a predetermined time or more; an operation of continuously directing the user's gaze to the part for a predetermined time or more; an operation of moving a part of the user's body according to an arrow displayed in association with the part; an operation of moving a pen tip that changes in luminance; and an operation of pointing to the part with a pointer displayed in the synthetic image by touching a touch sensor. 
 
     
     
       6. The information communication method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image sensor is included in a head-mounted display, and 
 in the displaying, the synthetic image is displayed by a display device included in the head-mounted display. 
 
     
     
       7. The information communication method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein obtaining the information by demodulating data specified in a perpendicular direction against a direction of stripes of the stripe pattern. 
 
     
     
       8. The information communication method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the exposure time to obtain the bright line image is less than 1/480 seconds. 
 
     
     
       9. An information communication device that obtains information from a subject, the information communication device comprising:
 a first exposure time setter configured to set an exposure time of an image sensor so that, in an image obtained by capturing the subject by the image sensor, a plurality of bright lines line corresponding to an exposure line included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject; 
 a bright line image obtainer including the image sensor, and configured to obtain a bright line image including the bright line by capturing the subject that changes in luminance with the set exposure time; 
 a second exposure time setter configured to set a longer exposure time than the exposure time; 
 a normal image obtainer configured to obtain a normal captured image by capturing the subject and surroundings of the subject with the longer exposure time; 
 a synthesizer configured to generate a synthetic image by specifying, in the normal captured image, a part that corresponds to the plurality of bright lines included in the bright line image and superimposing a signal object on the normal captured image, the signal object being an image indicating the part; 
 an image display configured to display the synthetic image in which the subject and the surroundings of the subject are shown, in a form that enables identification of a spatial position of the part corresponding to the plurality of bright lines; and 
 an information obtainer configured to obtain the information by demodulating data specified by a stripe pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image. 
 
     
     
       10. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with an executable computer program for obtaining information from a subject, and that when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:
 setting an exposure time of an image sensor so that, in an image obtained by capturing the subject by the image sensor, a plurality of bright lines corresponding to a plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject; 
 obtaining a bright line image including the plurality of bright lines, by capturing the subject that changes in luminance by the image sensor with the set exposure time; 
 setting a longer exposure time than the exposure time; 
 obtaining a normal captured image by capturing the subject and surroundings of the subject by the image sensor with the longer exposure time; 
 generating a synthetic image by specifying, in the normal captured image, a part that corresponds to the plurality of bright lines included in the bright line image and superimposing a signal object on the normal captured image, the signal object being an image indicating the part; 
 displaying the synthetic image in which the subject and the surroundings of the subject are shown, in a form that enables identification of a spatial position of the part corresponding to the plurality of bright lines; and 
 obtaining the information by demodulating data specified by a stripe pattern of the plurality of bright lines included in the obtained bright line image.